So Where Do We Stand Now
by touchnotthecat
Summary: Two girls arrive in Mystic Falls. They have ancient ties to the too the town and the Lockwood boys, Mason and Tyler. Life gets complicated as it becomes more dangerous in the small town and Miriam and Evelyn soon find themselves sucked into all the drama
1. Prologue

Prologue:

_**Mystic Falls 1864**_

The tall man stood in the middle of Wickery Bridge waiting. He heard the hoof beats long before the horse was in sight. His senses felt like they were on fire; his head was pounding.

He turned as the horse turned to corner. The rider pulled it up sharply and dismounted with a grace that wasn't entirely human. He marched up the bridge to stand beside the man who had been waiting. "Paul," He said nodding as he came to stand beside the waiting man, Paul, but instead of sharing the man's gaze he turned to look out over the water, "I presume you have good news for me, due to the… abrupt… lets call it an invitation, shall we?"

Paul licked his lips clearly uncomfortable at this meeting, "No George, I'm afraid I don't," He ran a hand through his dark red hair.

George turned and glared at Paul with the signature Lockwood dark eyed glare, "Hmmm, really, you called me from my home for your annoying worrying?"

"It isn't vain anxiety." Paul snapped. As always now, the once laid back doctor was on emotional edge. "This is serious George! I don't know what is happening to us and neither do my colleagues."

That got Mystic Falls' Mayor's son's attention. He turned sharply and grabbed the doctor's arm, nearly cutting off his circulation. "Who have you mentioned this to Pope, you ignoramus? I can't trust you with anything!" He sprayed Dr. Paul Pope with spittle as he growled at the slightly taller man.

"I have been completely discreet. It isn't only your reputation that hangs on this diagnosis, although that seems to be your only concern, as always George," Paul wrenched his arm free from George's grasp. "Until we know what is happening to us we have to leave, go somewhere secluded until I can narrow down what _is_ happening to us."

George's gaze narrowed, "Leave? I'm not going anywhere!"

Paul stared at his cousin, "You can't mean for us to stay, look at what we are becoming? We can't control our emotions or our strength. Our senses are heightened to the point of nearly breaking! We aren't safe to be around our families!"

"Don't presume to tell me what to do! I am the hero of this town; I am not prepared to leave with my tail between my legs, especially with what is going on with those demons." George snarled.

Paul sighed trying to gather his thoughts, "I understand your worry but with what is happening to us we can't afford to stay." Paul put his hand on his friend's shoulder, "We have families, children, and we can't risk their safety. What is happening to us is something dark, something primal. I can't risk my son's lives because you need to stay."

George shrugged off Paul's hand, "Than go, I won't stop you." He shook his head, "Don't you feel the power flowing through your veins? This new strength?"

Paul shook his head and turned away from his old friend, bracing his now constantly sore back with his hands. "Yes, George, I can feel it." He turned back and looked at George, "That is what's scaring me. I feel like I am loosing control of my body and my actions."

The look in George's eyes said that he knew what Paul was talking about but had chosen to ignore his friend. "You must do what you feel necessary but I am choosing to stay. I am sorry to find you here playing the role of coward. Leave, leave and take your family with you for they will be shunned, along with you for leaving when this town when it needs us the most."

"Is this how it will end then cousin? From when we were boys and killed that wolf to become men, from all the thanksgivings and Christmases our families have spent together? This is how it shall all end, with you turning your back on me, not willing to heed my advice?"

"Good bye Paul, may your off spring find better fortune and better will then you." With that George turned from his cousin and almost thought he could feel the bonds of their pact breaking as he walked away.

_**146 Years Later….**_

He waited anxiously in the study. He had waited for his father in this study nearly his entire life. He could barely remember a time when his father wasn't Mayor of Mystic Falls. Tyler waited in here when he had to walk from school to the Founder's Hall to get a ride home from his dad. He would wait here to see his dad come in, either in good spirits from a day campaigning or in a horrible mood from a day of badgering. He had never felt more nervous then he did at that moment. And to think he hadn't even wanted to come to this stupid founders thing.

His hands were shaking and a few of his knuckles were split from pummeling his best friend since kindergarten, in the face. He didn't understand what was happening to himself. Sometimes he would feel his emotions raging out of control. This morning he had thrown his coffee cup over the kitchen because he felt like his coffee was too hot. Tyler Lockwood felt like he was loosing control of himself.

He turned rubbing his neck when his father marched in, "Let's go," His dad said in a cold controlled voice.

"Dad I'm sorry," He found himself saying, the anxiety rising in his chest, "I don't even know what happened, I was drinking… and I lost control," His dad watched him with cool eyes. "I can't explain it,"

For a second Tyler thought he was getting off lightly as his dad went to turn away from him, but suddenly Richard Lockwood turned back and slapped Tyler hard across the face with the back of his hand; making the younger man stumble back into a door frame.

"That is the last time you ever embarrass this family," His father spouted at him.

Tyler could feel the same hate and rage that had been pounding in his veins not fifteen minutes earlier come flooding back again. He watched as his father turned his back on him and walked away, like he always did. The same frustrated feeling he had had towards Matt, _Poor Matt, ya you have issues with your mom boo-fucking-hoo, you have everything, you were the captain of the football team, you have gone out with two of the hottest girls in school and everyone loves you. _That frustrated feelingcome out towards his father, _I don't care if I am a disappointment to you, I'm fucking glad, I don't want to ever be anything like you, EVER! Why was I born into this godforsaken family? I hate them all…_

_**2,267 Miles Away, Somewhere in Nevada….**_

She slammed the hotel door shut. She didn't think that receptionist would ever let her have the key. She had picked this roadside motel because it looked like the kind of place people went to disappear, but no, the chubby, heart faced receptionist couldn't wait to hear her life story, and find out why a seventeen year old, red head was on her own with only a leather backpack and a roll along suitcase to her name.

She locked the door and pulled the chain lock over. She sank to the floor shaking. It was getting late. She could still see the sun through the window beside the door but it was only half set. She yarded on the pulley and let the curtains fall down sending the room into a half dark room. She noticed her hands shaking violently. She could feel her chest start to feel like it was ripping apart. Tears pooled in her eyes and the familiar terror began to set in once again.

She dug in her back pack and pulled out the big white pill bottle marked with the Veterinarian's order notice on the side. She checked the label again. _Ketanest, _or more commonly known as Ketamine. She unscrewed the top and shook the bottle, five pills rolled out onto her palm. She shook the bottle again and another one rolled out. That should be enough. She threw back the pills; they tasted bitter in her mouth. She dug in her bag again and found an old water bottle. She brought it out and opened it, swigging back a large mouth full of the old cold tea. She swallowed the mouthful struggling to fight her gag reflex, as the pills went down her throat in an awkward way.

She leaned back against the door and banged her head against it as she could feel the pills moving down her chest cavity. She gasped as the tears welled over to run down her cheeks. The darkness was crowding in on her peripheral vision. She was loosing control and it wasn't because of the pills. She was slipping into the darkness.

The door opened with a bang and an older woman ran into the room, she had the same long red hair but it was dead straight and had bangs that fell into her eyes, unlike the younger girls curlier, shorter hair. "Shit Miri what have you done? shit shit shit."

"It'sss okay Evie, this is the bes way.. you need to leave though." Miriam slurred her words slumping forwards.

"We've gone over this, drugging is too risky at your size." Miriam's older sister, Evelyn, sank to the floor besides all she had left in the world. "Why did you get away from me at the bus station? I told you to stay put!"

"You shouldn't be around me it's too dangerousss…" Evie tried to look her sister in the eye but she could make them focus.

"Trust me, I will look out for you, I know how who can help you just hold on for me." Miriam helped her sister lie down on the floor as she started to shake violently. Miriam stood up and then left the room locking the motel room door from the outside.


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: Hey all, so this takes place during the episode 'Plan B' in season two, hope you enjoy!

Chapter One

The two young women sat in the front seat of the '72 El Camino SS and stared at the old colonial mansion with its intimidating white pillars. They had been sitting there for an hour, watching people scurry in and out of the house and the younger of the two women, sitting in the passenger's seat, was starting to get fed up.

Miriam glanced at her big sister, "I don't know why we are here,"

"I've already explained this to you." Evelyn snapped.

Miri scoffed, "He isn't going to help us,"

"Yes he will, Mason is a good man," Evelyn continued to stare at the mansion, "He is the only person who can help us,"

"You think we need his help?" Miri glanced at her sister through her dark aviators, "He isn't a good guy Evie, he dumped you for-"

"I know the situation Miriam," Evie growled cutting her sister off, "This isn't about that,"

"Oh?" Miri glanced at her sister's hands on the steering wheel, her knuckles were steadily becoming whiter with each passing moment, "Oh-key…"

Miriam sighed, why Evelyn had dragged her across the country, to this god-for-saken, far-too-southern little town was beyond her reckoning. Then something caught her eye, or more like someone.

He was young, about her age, dark hair, from that distance even she could tell he had dark eyes, well built… an athlete. What really got her attention was the mere fact that she noticed him. Miriam, who used to cover her bedroom walls with posters of guys, never looked at anyone anymore. But him, … _him_ she noticed.

"Hey... Evie?"

"Mmm?"

"Who's that?"

"Who?" Evelyn pulled her gaze away from the front door and followed Miriam's line of sight. "Oh… uh… that's Taylor…no ,Tyson…. no, Tyler, ya Tyler. That's Mason's nephew. I remember seeing a picture of him once. Why?" Evelyn glanced back at her sister from the young man who was getting something out of a van.

"No reason," Miriam looked at her big sister and smiled. "No worries right?"

Evelyn sighed. She remembered their grandmother joking that they were cursed with their beauty, that no man could ever truly love them because of it. Before, she used to fret that that was their only real problem, especially after what happened with Mason but now she wished that was all she had to worry about. And there was her little sister, young vivacious Miriam, the always more outgoing of the two Pope sisters, staring at Tyler Lockwood.

"Miriam, you don't understand this place, I need for you, for once in your life, to follow my lead."

Miriam nodded sighing, Her big red curls bouncing off her shoulder. If Evelyn didn't know better she would have sworn she could see the glint in Miriam's eyes through the tint in the glasses.

"Sure sure Evie, and as soon as you start going somewhere I'll follow, like I always do. Until then, _I_ am getting out of the car."

"MIRIAM! GET BACK IN THIS-' But before the words had left her lips Evelyn was facing a closed car door and watching her ballsy little sister walk across the gravel driveway into a world that she knew nothing about.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Tyler Lockwood looked down from the front door on the steps to see a smiling red head walking over to him. She had shoulder length, curly dark red hair, pale skin, aviators covering her eyes, loose blue jeans and a leather jacket on top of what looked like an Eminem concert t-shirt. She was gorgeous and most defiantly not from Mystic Falls.

She stopped on the bottom step and pushed her glasses up into her hair. She had big hazel eyes that glinted at Tyler in a very mischevious way. He was intrigued. "Hi," She said brightly as if it was the most natural thing in the world for a stranger to show up to his house on the day they were setting up for a masquerade ball.

"Hi," Tyler smiled and walked down the steps.

She giggled, "uh you don't know me,"

"You don't say…"

She smiled but in a confident way, that reminded Tyler scarily of himself, "My name is Miriam Pope, I'm in town with my sister… I dunno, I think she talked to your mom or something..."

"Oh right," Tyler had a brief flashback to dinner a couple of nights ago and could hear his mom's voice far off in the distance saying the name Pope, "Isn't she here on some genealogy thing or something? Your sister I mean,"

"Uh ya, her thesis, anyway the B&B owner told us where to find your house, is this a bad time?" She looked around at all the cars in the front drive.

"Well not really, we are organizing a charity masquerade ball thing…"Tyler found himself trailing off from staring at this girl.

She looked back and caught him staring. He straightened up and looked her in the eye. When she spoke she had a laugh in her voice, "Umm, that sounds busy,"

"No, no, no it's fine stick with me, we will find my mom eventually." She stared at him raising her eyebrows, "I'm Tyler Lockwood," He stuck out his hand and she glanced at it before shaking it. Tyler glanced down at her surprisingly strong grip but she let go. He glanced at his hand though and saw it go pink as circulation returned. "Um right, I have to move a table inside for my mom, come on,"

* * *

Evelyn slammed the car door and looked around. She hadn't been here in over fifteen years. Her family had moved when she was twelve and Miriam was two and yet here they were again, in Mystic Falls, at the same time as Mason Lockwood no less. But this was how she had planned it. It had taken a long time but things would work in her favour from now on.

She saw him walking around the side of the house, on the phone and she felt like she had been kicked in the chest. How was that possible? That she could be still oh so in love with him.

She ran over the driveway, "Mason!" He turned, hanging up the phone and looked at her with cold eyes.

"Evie, what are you doing here?"

Evelyn came to an abrupt halt and looked at him, feeling painfully awkward and out of place, "Really? After nearly a year that is all you have to say? After I show up out of the blue, just 'what am I doing here'?" She was too tired to fight anymore, she just felt sad.

"I don't have time to go over this with you again. I appreciate you being there for me an all," He kept glancing around like he was afraid someone would see him talking to her, "But it's over. I picked her, I think it would be better for everyone if you just left." He turned and went to walk away up the steps, and Evelyn realised that, yes indeed that hurt. She was _still_, even now capable of being hurt.

"No, Mason, it isn't about that," But he kept walking. Walking away from her. Evie found her self chasing him up the stairs, "It isn't about me, it's about Miri," But he wouldn't stop, he just kept walking. "Mason! She's changed."

That made him stop. He slowly turned and looked at her with sad eyes. She hadn't realised how long it had been since he had looked at her with anything other than contempt until that moment and it had been a long time. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Well, such is life, but I was hoping that you could talk to her and maybe..." Evelyn shrugged unsure, now that she was actually standing in front of him what to say or suggest. She had been so set on getting there and seeing him, she hadn't actually considered what she was going to say once there.

"Look, I would like to help you, I really would. Miri was a nice girl but I have other things to worry about right now." He went to turn and leave but Evie ran up and grabbed his arm.

"That's it? This isn't like she scored the same IQ as you and is wondering what career to pursue, you are my only option here Mason, my only resource." He met her graze with a hard one of his own, "I know things have changed, I am not stupid but please don't turn your back on me now."

He looked down at her hand on his arm before looking up and meeting her gaze. "I'm sorry Evelyn, but it would be better for everyone if you just left now." With that he turned from her and walked away.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Evelyn stared at where he had been standing, '_Why Mason? Why did you have to do this? Why did you have to force my hand? I never thought I would be apart from you, and now...now you have driven me to the unthinkable. Old feuds really do never die out.' _With that she walked out and around the back of the mansion.

She saw him standing there, looking around, watching the people. It was amazing no one else had noticed him, were they really that oblivious? He looked like a cat on a hot tin roof. "Why Damon Salvatore, fancy seeing you here!" Damon turned suddenly and looked at her raising an eyebrow and smiling at her with that slow seductive smile of his.

"Evelyn Pope, what brings you back to Mystic Falls," He walked over and stood in front of her smiling.

"Same as you I expect, home sweet home, no place like it." She smiled crossing her arms.

"Didn't expect to see you, a lot is going on, although you are never too far out of the loop," He came to stand beside her.

"I try my best. I have a few things I need to discuss with you," Evelyn looked around. Miriam was standing under an awning with Tyler Lockwood, helping some young man with blonde hair put up decorations.

"Well, actually," Damon sucked the air through his teeth, "Now isn't a good time for me I am about to be in the middle of something, maybe we could rendezvous tonight," He looked deep into her green eyes, and Evelyn felt a shiver run down her spin.

"Damon, after all the time we have spent together, you just don't learn do you? I can't be compelled. But this is important, no flirting for me." Damon made a fake pouting face. "It's about Mason Lockwood," Damon's whole body went rigid, and his eyes narrow. "And, why his return to town should concern you a great deal."

He grabbed her arm and the next thing Evelyn knew they were standing in the shadow of the house fifty feet from where they had been. "What do you know? And I am not in the mood for games Evie,"

"Never Damon," Evelyn put her hand on his arm that was holding her and he slowly let her go, "Trust me, my mood for games died long ago."

"Shame, we used to have so much fun, now what do you know about Mason Lockwood, spill."


End file.
